Screenland (Nov 1935-Apr 1936)

for February 1936 25 a success . . . Karen's initial picture without the advice and direction and patience of Tom was another matter. She had never stood entirely on her own before — she had been treated kindly — and her natural talent had been encouraged by people who were prone to be lenient. Now everything was altered, and she did her stuff — often crudely and clumsily— for a group who demanded their pound of flesh. Now she was the culprit, hurling her defense at a jury who were apt to take the other side from sheer perversity. It was a groping, pathetic, inarticulate performance that she gave, and there were times when her huge eyes might have been the eyes of a blind woman. Once she heard a cameraman laughing about her halting exit from a scene, and she went home to cry herself into a headache. Once she sobbed publicly and piteously on the set, after she had gone over a certain bit of action from sun-up until sun-down. When the picture was finished two executives sat in dismal silence and watched the sequences stumble one after the other. When the lights came on they faced each other blinkingly, and had bitter words. Their discussion practically ended in blows. "She's a bust!" the first executive raged. "She's so dreadful she makes me want to scream. Throw her into cheap comedy where she belongs. Maybe Kildare will take her back if we pay him a bonus." The second executive answered bravely : "I tell you, Jim, she's lousy in this, but she has it! She'll be worth shooting the works on, one day. I don't know what it is she's got, but it's a THE STORY SO FAR gift!" Over the protests of his associates, Tom Kildare, star comedian, selected a tall, gawky girl from the group of applicants for lead in his new picture. "No acting experience, and she can't ev^n talk English well," they said of Marie Kastelaine, former nurse-maid brought to California from France by a wealthy family. Her difficulties with the language made little difference at the time, for the pictures were "silent" then. However, Kildare was right. Under the screen name of Karen Kent, the girl gained great prominence. When i Karen received an offer to play dramatic parts with another company, she reminded Tom that she owed everything to him, and would remain with him if he wished. But Kildare decided it best that Karen accept the offer. Now read on. Jim sputtered a reply, and was his face red ! And because he was the ranking executive the picture was shelved. It was very nearly scrapped, but a scheduled feature went wrong and the fate that watches after exnursemaids was kind, and the picture was grudgingly released. And then a minor miracle happened. The public, with an established taste for Karen, and a keen curiosity about her, was unanimous in its verdict. As a dramatic actress Karen Kent lacked polish, finish, confidence, what have you ! But she possessed a quality more important than any of the qualities she lacked. The groping, inarticulate performance became news — ■ honest-to-goodness news. Later it was to become history and to suffer many revivals. Incidentally the fan magazines bestowed a name upon the something that Tom had first sensed in Karen — the quality that had arrested the attention of the beleaguered executive. They called it glamor. The breaking off of their business partnership didn't mean that Tom Kildare and Karen Kent ceased seeing each other outside their respective studios. They continued to go about — at least on the surface — in the old way. They were the most firm of friends. Tom was invariably gay, with a touch of his inimitable slapstick, unless he was giving advice. He still chose Karen's frocks and he personally selected her chauffeur and her butler — that seal of screen success ! Her new contract — certainly she got one — bore the mark of his Celtic cunning. Karen, unlike Tom, was uniformly quiet when they were together. She didn't have (Continued on page 78)